New Theme Launched

Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2007 7:03 am

Greetings UBW'ers...

Just a quick note to announce the new site theme.

The appearance of the site is something I take very seriously, and it's something that I spend a lot of time on behind the scenes. One of the most common comments I get on the UBW is the 'themes' are too 'techy' and too 'dark'. I myself am a fan of 'techy' and 'dark', so the comments are not really surprising to me Cool

. I decided it was time for a change to address those comments to see if there is potential traffic that wasn't hanging around before due to the heavy theme. The obvious goal is to build more traffic to the site and our artists by using a more 'neutral' colored theme, while still maintaing an attractive interface to the broadest possible base of visitors. I believe that's the direction the new theme is taking us in.

As always I welcome your opinions and bug reports!!

Ron

Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2007 7:53 am

WOW!

ubw rookie Joined: Sep 17, 2004 Posts: 149

I'm with mittins... WOW! I like it, except I would rather see who added new songs as to the Recent Song Favorites. I liked the darkness too but this works as well. Laughing

Nice job!

Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2007 11:42 pm

I'll add another "WOW"....

Wow!

I like the new theme.

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 12:46 am

really like the new look, but several things have been sacrificed. random songs from other genres don't pop up at the bottom of the charts pages anymore. not only did we used to get plays that way, but i used to find a lot of good music that way.

the spot lights are still there, but not for specific songs. that was also pretty cool. the way it was set up allowed you to either listen to the song or go to the artist page.

lastly, i'm a stats nut. i really liked the way you could see stats broken down constantly. i liked being able to see how many plays each song had received. we had several songs that would get zero, but it was still cool to see how many plays a song had received in the different time increments.

i know it sounds more like bitching. the site looks really cool and is easier to navigate overall. i've also noticed a new layout in one of the premium packages that fits the new style. i hope you continue to increase the number of new layouts so they conform more to the overall new look.

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 7:01 am

GREAT Feedback!

I really appreciate it.

.The random songs in the charts is something I can re-enable. Let me think about the logistics

.When you say stats, do you mean the charts browser? I can re-enable this and perhaps link it in the artist page manager as opposed to the home page. Let me give it some thought..

.artist pages are 'next' on my todo list, I have some new themes as well as some new features to integrate into the themes.

Take care!
Ron

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:44 am

yeah, when i'm talking about stats, i'm talking about the "charts browser." it was always nice to go back a year and see who has had a ton of plays over a long period of time. it was a good way to check out artists that have been with the site for a long time but maybe have not been in the charts for a long time. after all, there are a lot more artists on the site than what one thinks.

i'm sure the artist profiles take a while to get going. can't wait until they're available.

Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 10:16 pm

he, he. i take it some bugs are still being worked out. i noticed on the acoustic charts that i'm both at #10 & #11 with the same song. don't get me wrong, it's a pretty decent song, mediocre recording, but it doesn't deserve that honor!

just messin' around. hey, i also remembered something else from the old format that i really liked. that was the monthly featured artists section. you've got space at the top to add a button to do a separate page, since the new layout doesn't leave room for it now. it's just a cool feature. i always waited eagerly each month to see who was on it. it's cool to see who the moderators pick - even if i don't understand or agree with every choice :-) - and it lets us know that the people running the site a really listening. i mean, i know you guys are because i hit up the forums, but i think listeners find that kind of thing neat as well.

when i think about it, there were a lot of features on the original layout that were great and enabled you access so many songs an artists just on the 1st page. most of those things i've already mentioned, though, or have been replaced in one fashion or another by the new features.

i like that you've added a space that features listeners. that shows appreciation. and believe me when i say that i know that you've put a lot of hours into this, and that's even before you started updating the look. thank you and everyone involved very much for providing this place to come together and for keeping it up. take care, Ron.

Brandon

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